Never Grow Up
by Rei Uta
Summary: A small collection on a parent's wish for their kid.
1. Present

_I seem to have no trouble churning out things when I have insomina. T.T Oh well... Have a Happy 2012 Year everyone! x33_

**Summary**: A short collection on a parent's wish for their kid. Song fic

**Warning**: For this, it's SasuNaru + Kid xDD

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anyone except for the idea! Yeah, I don't own Juu-chan, cause she's actually Juura99! x33

**Rating**: 'K' So no funny stuff! Dx

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><p>"We'll be gone now, be good for grandpa and grandma, okay?"<p>

The chibi blonde addressed nodded her consent, a cheery grin anchored across her face, one almost as sun kissed as her Daddy's.

"I will, Daddy!" She promised, pressing her tiny lips to the elder's cheek, a forming, instinctive wish for him to return safely imbedded in the innocent gesture. Turning to look at her raven Father, almond hazels spotted him standing near Daddy's daddy and mummy, a blond and a red head respectively, exchanging murmured words with the older couple.

"Fath'r!" Darting over to the man, she squealed as gentle, firm fingers encircled her waist to bring her above the ground, to the great heights she ached to reach herself. Finding herself trapped within the safe comfort of her Father's chest, Juura stifled a giggle, her short attention span ridding her mind of all else, except for the firm warmth around her, calming her rowdy spirits and making her drowsy.

Fighting to focus on the events occurring around her, she only caught quiet words that meant nothing to her before she dropped like a stone into the silent dark.

When large hazels peeled open, they stared towards the midnight ceiling above, decorated with flecks of white and luminescent stars, the kind that glowed in the dark. Sitting up, Juura examined her surroundings, taking in the gentle mix of orange, pink, blue and purple which decorated the walls, the colours that reminded her of the sun when it rose into the nighttime sky.

Pushing back the fluffy softness which had been covering her, Juura let her bare toes touch the ground, enjoying the cloudy snug which surrounded the sensitive under skin. Pulling away from the feeling in her feet, she turned curious hazels towards the wooden entrance, easily discerning the lance of light that snipped through dark and showcased the fresh mint green of a familiar hallway.

Easily recognizing the gentle shade, tiny feet pattered towards the maple wood and brought their owner into the world of kind, jolly and merry grandparents. The kind that were agreeable and were everyone's ideal relatives.

"Pappy!" Before the elder blond had time to respond, Juura threw herself at the man, giggling the way children were wont to do.

"Ah! It would seem that Juu-chan is finally up." Settling the unruly clone of his beloved child, Minato angled a hand under his chin, looking as if he was conjuring the very solution to the Earth's greatest problem with only the pure mischief in aged cobalt to hint at the 'innocent' evil brewing in his mind. "I wonder what is she up to right now?"

"I'm gonna," and the tiny nose caught a whiff of cinnamon sugar, baked to aged perfection by steady hands, "h'lp Mammy!" To Minato's undying amusement, the four year old let herself down, steadying herself with an experienced air before toddling towards the source of the scent, no doubt eager to sink her sugar craving fangs into Kushina's signature confection.

Settling back into the ridiculously comfortable, sink-into-me armchair his beloved son had purchased for him on his sweet fifty-fourth, Naruto's older, replica counted the brief minutes in his mind, enduring the sugar sweet scent of pure temptation until his tormentors designated him with a reprieve.

"Pappy!" Caught off guard by Juura's glomp tackle, Minato fought to steady himself as the additional weight (literally) clamped onto his chest, forcing him to lurch forward in order to support them. "We mad' snick'rdoodli's. Hav' som'!" Even though Minato swore he originally had the intention of at least reprimanding the younger blonde for the unexpected action, her adorable excitement blew him off track, so that he couldn't help but smile, and let it slide like all the other times.

After all, what were men, against the power of the puppy dog eyes? They were literally useless against the terrible cuteness, best executed by chubby cuties.

Relenting, he let Juura feed him the fragrant, soft lumps.

Later, when evening dusted the skies in indigo hues, the tiny family gathered around the Uzumaki fireplace where a brilliant ball of wild embers danced. Minato still rested his ass on the cozy armchair he was forcibly fed snickerdoodles on, Kushina had opted for one not unlike Minato's and with her, was a shawl in the same shade of cherry red as her fiery hair in her prime. Their blonde charge placed herself on the family's old cushion, one large enough to 'cushion' (1) her lying flat and still leave room for a doll, with a plate of snickerdoodles beside her.

Staring at the dancing shades of hypnotizing red and orange, hazel almonds glazed in thought, her mind slowing enough to focus on singular thoughts instead of multiple, dizzy ones.

For example, what was it that her parents had been saying earlier? Focusing her bleary minds through the haze of sleep dusting her consciousness, Juura let the multiple trainings with her Father guide her through misty memories. Her Father had taught her to read body language and with her photographic memory, it was nothing short of a piece of cake for the young chibi to sort out the mumble jumbo in her mind files. Deciding who to crack first was the hard part.

Biting her lip subconsciously, Juura at last, landed on Daddy, for it was him, who was the most expressive, a classic target and the man who'd taught her the value of using a friendly smile and manner as both a shield and a weapon. Bearing both parents' teachings easily, Juura recalled the worry shielded by happy sparkles in her father's cobalt skies, the twist of fear and grim determination in the upturned grin. She pictured his lips, moving to form words full of double meanings.

Then, she pictured her Father, the being strict in appearance and teachings but tender to those who'd butted into his ice heart and chained themselves to his mind. Juura remembered the empty onyx, filled with secret heart ache at the thought of leaving his adorable child behind, the additional tightness to the unyielding line of his mouth and lips crusted with equal determination as his smooth baritone moved the air.

As for her grandparents, well, she could ask them herself.

"Pappy, Mammy, what're you dis-dis-," wrinkling her nose at the difficult word, Juura ignored it in favor of plowing on, "talking 'bout with Daddy and Fath'r?" Hearing the shift of material, hazel nut wandered away from the burning flames to stare at her grandparents, curiosity brightening thoughtful browns.

Waiting for the silence to ease was boring, so Juura settled for studying the couple. She took in the lines of white and grey scattered with red and yellow respectively, the wrinkles with tales of their birth hidden at the surface. The saddened hues of blues that returned her gaze with ripen wisdom and aged knowledge.

"Come here, Juu-chan." At length, Kushina broke the silence by the command, a hand petting her knee invitingly. Squealing in delight, the chibi blonde stood on legs nearly asleep and limped towards her grandmother, invoking a giggle with her awkward motion. Reaching the chair where the aged woman sat, Juura clambered on to her shawl covered lap, sighing in satisfaction as she leaned against the warmth.

"Daddy and Father have to go for a business trip and they're not okay with the idea of Juu-chan being alone," having checked that his granddaughter understood thus far, Minato continued. "So they brought Juu-chan to us, Daddy's parents, so we can look after Juu-chan and make sure she doesn't get hurt."

Juura wrinkled her nose, intelligence telling her that tidbit was what she already knew. It was time for some nudges.

"But Pappy," she added a whine to her voice and brought out the largeness of her hazel almonds, "Juu-chan knows that! Juu-chan thinks Daddy and Fath'r look we-we-," and a pout came into the mix, "sad."

As it was, the girl could practically see the thoughts nuking it out in Pappy's head while Mammy stayed safe by burying a nose in soft wheat. Ticklish…

"Juu-chan, Daddy and Father don't want to leave you. That's why they were sad." Speaking before her goofball of a husband could, Kushina let the words sink in the toddler's mind. "They wanted to stay with Juu-chan."

"Daddy and Fath'r did?" Sensing the oncoming pout, Minato rose from his seat to move with fluid steps towards the mahogany bookshelf stationed next to the old time kitchen. Browsing through the titles with cobalt a shade deeper than Naruto's, he retrieved a hefty, leather bound from the top shelf before returning to the girls he left behind.

Hopefully this would be enough to distract the ever curious blonde.

"Hey Juu-chan, want to see pictures of Daddy when he was your age?"

When the hazels snapped towards the title in his hands, inner Minato let out a mental cheer, delighted at being granted a reprieve from whatever Juura could pull out from her arsenal of adorableness. Adjusting himself back in his delightful chair, he let his little chibi switch to his lap before righting the leather bound, so as to prevent the weight from hurting her little legs.

Removing the cotton bit binding the ends together, the elder shifted it carefully, allowing Juura the pleasure of viewing the pure cuteness staring out at her in each picture of the photo album.

"This is Daddy?" The girl cooed in astonishment, unable to believe how her Daddy had started out. Why, he looked to be even smaller than her! No wait. Those were of his first week. Nevermind.

"Yes. This is your Daddy when he was your age." As Minato prepared to lose himself in memories, Kushina placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, something she'd gotten out of her chair to do.

And they dove into the memories of days past.

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><p><em>As you can probably see, this chapter takes the place of an author's note, cause those things suck. xP <em>

_Anyways... Thank you, Juura for letting me use you in this! I hope you don't mind who I made you into. Dx_

_Have a Happy 2012 Year! x333_

_(1) Is this a pun? o.O_

_Ja ne, Rei~_


	2. Bed Time

**Summary:** A short collection on a parent's wish for their kid. Song fic

**Warning: **Let's just say this is a bad chapter for Sasuke fangirls. xP Ooo yeahhh... So there might be something suggestive somewhere here, or you can look upon it as something innocent. :)

**Disclaimer: **Me no own. Meanies. X(

**Rating: **'K' = No funny stuff. This is a kid's story, for Pete's sake!

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><p>Juura's hands brushed gently over the tiny photo that caught her eye. One depicting a picture of a sleeping, three year old Naruto cocooned in soft orange with a hand of tiny fingers curled around a smiling, much younger, Minato's larger one.<p>

"Aw…" She cooed. "Daddy looks adorable!"

Gazing at the aforementioned picture, the same smile brushed on to the older blond's lips while the sky blues of his wife twinkled at Juura.

"There's a story behind this photo." She intoned mysteriously to the excited chibi, "would you like to know the tale of this?" And a hand waved in the direction of chibi Naruto's sleeping self.

"Y's!" Juura cheered, sparkles practically erupting in the hazel brown. Giggling at the obvious ecstasy burning in the younger blonde, Kushina set her voice to it's well used, 'story mode' and just as she'd used to, she let her voice work its magic.

"You see, Juu-chan, when Daddy was a little boy, he was naughty."

"Naughty?" Here, the browns widened in to marbles, her young brain having short circuited before she was able to connect the words 'Daddy' and 'naughty' together, owing to the vast images the singular word had produced in her mind.

No, they weren't perverted thoughts. Yet.

"Yes, yes. Quite the mischief maker." Kushina laughed, her brain instantly bringing up the many schemes her Naruto had cooked up in his blessed youth. Upon seeing the confusion on the chibi's face, she hastened to elaborate, after which the younger's face brightened immediately.

"Oh! Lik' how Juu-chan plays tricks on Fath'r!" She cheered, delight adding metamorphical sparkles around her face. Seeing the disbelief clear on her grandparents' faces, Juura decided to elaborate.

"Juu-chan put glue in Fath'r's hair thing last 'pril Fool! When Fath'r try to mak hair look nice, hand stuck to hair and Daddy has to cut out Fath'r's hand!" The girl giggled, recalling how odd Sasuke had looked with a portion of his hair messily hacked away by nimble fingers trembling with mirth.

The man hadn't left his home that day and she narrowly escaped punishment by feeding her parents a dosage of the ever dreaded, 'Bambi Eyes' with a side set of 'Cute Tears' and the 'Adorable Pout'. While Daddy had melted immediately, Father braved the attack for an extra minute before he gave in, but that was after she upped the level of her 'Bambi Eyes' from three to five. Something which none had thought possible, excluding the ones executing it.

"Another time, Juu-chan ran out of pap'r last time and Juu-chan want to gif Daddy a birthday card! So Juu-chan cut a card from Fath'r pants, coz Juu-chan know that Daddy wuves Fath'r so Daddy will wuv to have thing from Fath'r stuff!" And she grinned, clearly proud of her inventive idea, even as her grandparents' jaws fell onto the ground. While it certainly was a unique thought, Juura had neglected to mention that the silky, black material she'd used had come from Sasuke's favourite set of pants, one which had been neatly pressed in preparation for Naruto's birthday party, which was to be held in their home with all acquainted to the couple invited.

Indeed, both had been startled when they'd arrived earlier to help with the food, were greeted by their son-in-law, only to be presented with a good view of his symbol covered boxers once he'd turned. The poor fellow hadn't realized a thing since everyone else were either occupied or too polite to point it out until the birthday boy's brash friend had turned up and immediately pointed the fact out, due to his complete and utter mortification. While the culprit had never been discovered, the couple had had a sneaking suspicion about the criminal behind the act. One which had never been confirmed personally by anyone.

"And Juu-chan also bully Fath'r when Fath'r try to bully Juu-chan last time." She intoned with a wicked grin, hazel nuts sparkling mischievously at the reminder. It was one filled with the evilness of childhood terror and the patent demonicness all kids were seemingly born with, even if they came from a background of nobility and 'good breeding'. In fact, it made the couple almost afraid to ask.

"What did Father do to Juu-chan?" Ah… Curiosity won out in the end.

"Fath'r hog Daddy all day and when Juu-chan say Juu-chan want talk to Daddy only, Fath'r don't let Juu-chan. So Juu-chan bully Fath'r, coz Fath'r bully Juu-chan!" And hazel almond narrowed into twin silts of annoyance at the thought. Apparently hating the very idea of it.

In fact, her revenge had been even more delicious for her than it normally was. Having stolen Daddy's attention and preventing it from fully resting on her, Juura had endured the irritation for a whole morning, before she'd snapped and the tricks had started. When Father had stolen Daddy and barred Juura from seeing either by locking both in their room, the blonde chibi had snapped into action.

Firstly, she'd hunted down Daddy's precious stash of ramen, the food items second only to herself and Father, and replaced their uncooked contents with paper balls crumpled fashionably before sealing them with an experience which belittled her age. Having replaced the swapped packets in their appropriate places, Juura proceeded to wrap the individual stacks in clear foil, bag it and spirited the lot into her own room, where her secret stash was located in.

She finished her task just as the lock to her parents' room clicked, indicating its change of state.

Her mind worked through plans, talents coming into play, creativity bubbling up the thousand and one alibis she could pull out and have them all be believed, especially if her adorableness came into factor. Her favourite, would be getting the red headed twins across the road to cover her, knowing that their appetite for pranks and tricks were as big as hers, their imaginations doubly better.

Why not use it again?

Choice made, she toddled to the door, picturing the grinning faces of her partners in crime as the idea was presented to them. In fact, she was certain they'd even help add in more details and make it even better. A concrete piece of woven tales to fool those who thought themselves better.

Obviously, they got away with it and Juura completed her goal. Daddy had been really angry with Father once he'd discovered the dried sheets of mashed tree pulp replacing the God sent, miniature heaven of sweet paradise, known as ramen. Having given Father a good tongue lashing, the latter had definitely been puzzled but crestfallen nonetheless.

So much that he didn't even notice the work of her tiny fingers as they looped white laces newly washed, around his ankles and ended the job with an easy knot, the one Daddy had taught her to make, insisting that the knowledge would come in handy some day.

Daddy was always right.

And that was why Father had ended up on their family couch on the same night with an ice pack for the bump on his head (caused by his feet's mysterious entanglement with shoe laces from the laundry) and another for his black eye (awarded by Naruto for somehow managing to 'grope' him whilst falling).

While Juura worked at concluding her long tale, the elder couple magically pulled off a 'sweat drop' moment.

And they said that was only accomplishable in cartoons.

"And… that's true!" Her arms swayed wildly, gesturing frantically in an attempt to get the point across when they bumped against the scrap book. Bringing their attention back to the picture of the sleeping chibi. Seeing an excellent way to distract his granddaughter from her highly advanced schemes, Minato clung onto it, his face facing down to let shadows grow, immediately shrouding the room with a serious air.

"Does Juu-sama want to learn about Daddy's past?"

At the excited bobbing of the blonde locks, older cobalt softened, releasing the veil of harshness which disguised the softer comfort of a well lived in home.

"Well, it goes like this…"

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><p><em>Your little hand's wrapped around my finger<em>

"Naruto, it's time for bed!"

"But Daddeee… I can't sleep."

Minato smiled, a gentle curve upwards that spoke of fond exasperation and unhidden, unconditional adoration. Love. As he stared at the pouting child with stubborn cobalt firmly fixated on the door leading towards their back yard.

One of the barriers to Naruto's ever growing curiosity.

_And it's so quiet in the world tonight_

"C'mon little rascal."

And the blond chibi squealed when his father's big, warm hands wrapped around his tiny waist, propelling him into the tall heights he ached to reach on his own. Chuckling at his second love, (his first being Kushina) the elder clone swung his precious gift about, being careful to maintain a steady grip on the younger while keeping it light.

Protecting and caring simultaneously.

_Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming_

They tumbled about as Minato drew closer to his son's final destination for the day, efficiently distracting the boy from noticing with their wild antics until they tumbled onto Naruto's tiny bed, which was actually big enough to house a teenage boy instead of the tiny, blond chibi.

While his mini clone was recovering from the utter ecstasy sweeping through tiny veins from the mock flight, Minato took the chance to tuck the chibi under the gentle pumpkin sheets his orange obsessed son had demanded they get.

A gesture gentle and intoxicating. Bringing Naruto closer than ever to the brink of nighttime dreams and restful sleep.

_So I tuck you in, turn on your favourite night light_

Cobalt once blazing with stubbornness and a thick headed determination were now soft. Exhaustion sneaking in the brilliant blues. Refusing to leave now that their victim was receptive to them.

Accepting instead of denying.

"Daddeee…." And a tiny hand reached for the bigger one. One which engulfed it in warmth, handling it with tenderness. Lashes fluttered, hiding away a good portion of the warm shades, darkened to midnight skies. The tiny lip trembled, struggling now, to get coherent words out.

"Daddy, can we sing… The Lights?"

The innocent inquiry brought a smile to the elder's lips. A gentle curve of amusement which let elder cobalt warm and remain a soft navy.

"Sure thing."

Their heads tapped together gently, vibrant sunshine mellowed and twisting in temporary harmony, messy but fitting.

"Starlight, moonlight, night light, dream light,

First light that shines on my little head tonight.

Hold me, love me, guard me from the dark,

Keep me safe while I explore…"

And the childish tone drifted off. Ending as their owner slumped into the fantasy realm of knights and dragons, sword play and heroes. Soft navy twinkled with merriment as light skies sparkling with warmth connected the bridge between their gazes before both settled on their precious gift. On the reason why their world revolved. Why it was bright and colourful.

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><p><em>You don't know how much you miss a thing until it's taken away from you. Please heed this.<em>

_I MISSED WRITING SOOOOO MUCHHH! FINALLY GETTING TO WRITE AGAIN IS LIKE HEAVENNNN!_

_Okayyy... I hoped you enjoyed this! xDD I know I did. _

_Ja ne, Rei~_


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